


Change Your Major

by damimenhaas (weightedlive)



Series: Change Your Major [1]
Category: Smosh
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Blind Date, Disaster Shayne Topp, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Mutual Pining, Smosh Writing Week 2019, Smosh Writing Week 2019 - Day 4, SmoshWritingWeek2019, which is just any college student
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 00:44:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19983241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weightedlive/pseuds/damimenhaas
Summary: Courtney decides to take it into her own hands when her two best friends confess their attraction to the other to her. What could go wrong?





	Change Your Major

"Ground control to Major Tom... Ground control to Major Tom... Take your protein pills..."

"Fuck." Shayne slammed the strings of the guitar unceremoniously and hung his head on the back of the couch in frustration, letting out a quiet scream. Courtney shook her head at her friend from the bed and smiled softly. 

"It's fine, the chord change can be pretty hard. I could just learn it on my ukulele if you don't want-"

"No!" Shayne snapped his head back up. "It's fine, I can do it just..." He trailed off, staring at the chords on his laptop in front of him. 

"Okay," Courtney began, closing the laptop shut and looking up at Shayne. "Let's do something different for now. I appreciate you trying to help but I don't want you to get too mad at yourself." She smiled. "Let's talk about you. How are you doing, outside of trying to accompany me for open mic?"

Shayne returned the smile and leaned his guitar on the couch next to him. "I'm doing alright just... my classes still don't feel right. I've changed my major twice and I have so many credits but I have no idea what I'm doing and-"

Courtney leaned forward to place a hand on his knee. "Slow your roll there, bud. You're a sophomore, it's okay, you've got time."

Shayne sighed. "But it doesn't _feel_ like I've got time. You and Damien have your lives pretty much figured out and I just feel like a bumbling idiot." He shifted his position to laying across the couch, which knocked over his guitar from where it was precariously leaning. He winced as it hit the ground with a clang of steel strings and wood against the linoleum floor. He let out another scream of frustration and placed his hands over his face, continuing to talk through them.

"I just... I just wish I could figure something out. _Anything_ out. I feel like I'm going insane." Shayne could hear the creak of his mattress as Courtney stood up and walked over to him, crouching beside his position on the couch.

"I get that. But let's try to look at the positives. And if you don't want to do that, look at things that are neutral, completely in the middle between awful and amazing. It helps a lot." Shayne felt her place her hand on his shoulder and push his arms away from his face, forcing him to look at her.

"You're the one who should be a psych major, not me." He joked, which made Courtney smile. 

"You're the one who taught me that trick last year, man. Now tell me, what are the good things you have in your life?"

Shayne looked up at the ceiling, deep in thought. "Well... you and Damien are great. You're some of the closest friends I have and I really love you guys. You're both so helpful and amazing. Let's see... I'm going to a great college and trying to educate myself more, that's a good thing. I have a roommate who is the best person I could've asked for..."

"See! you have all these great things, even if the really shitty stuff feels like it's weighing you down. And you can talk to me and Dames about anything, we'll be there for you."

Shayne let out a long sigh. "Of course... but not... everything. I guess." Courtney quirked an eyebrow at that.

"What do you mean? Is there something else? I won't say anything but you also don't have to talk to me if you don't want-"

Shayne sat up and said, "No, no. It's fine. It's just... I feel... guilty. About something."

"What would you feel guilty for? You haven't done anything wrong."

Shayne shook his head. "I know it's just... I feel bad because... I like Damien a lot. As more than just a friend. He's just such an amazing guy and I don't know if I could ever find somebody else like him if I searched the whole damn world. But I don't wanna screw things up. I don't want to be the guy that's just friends with somebody because they want to date, because even if we don't do anything like that I don't want to lose him." Shayne averted his eyes from Courtney's, ashamed. "It's stupid, I know."

"No, no!" Courtney cooed, grabbing Shayne's hand in hers. "I know how you're feeling, I understand. It's not stupid because it's what you're feeling. If it matters to you, then it's not stupid at all." She used her other hand to tilt Shayne's head up to look at her, smiling sweetly. "So tell me what you like about him."

"I, uh," Shayne stammered, taking a breath before continuing. "He's just such a great guy. He does so much for others and asks for nothing in return. He's kind and honest and he always knows how to make people feel better. He's so funny, one of the funniest people I've ever met. And he cares so much about others, he listens to them no matter what and is always so encouraging. He such a nerd but I love it and he's not ashamed of it at all. And he's cute too, honestly." Courtney's smile had been growing as Shayne spoke, and she giggled at his last comment. 

"Go on, I wanna hear you gush about how cute he is."

Shayne felt his cheeks grow warm and a smile spread across his face as he began to talk more about his roommate. "His hair always looks so nice. It's so soft and the blue streak looks so good on him. I came back from class and he was in the middle of the room, sitting on the floor, staring at the mirror with a cup of bleach and blue hair dye next to him, it was really funny to walk in on." Shayne couldn't control the smile he had on his face. "And when he wears his glasses he looks so hot. He doesn't believe it but they really do look good on him. And when he wore them to the formal with that grey suit," Shayne crossed one leg over the other and fanned himself with his hand, blinking rapidly and letting out little 'ohs' and' ahs', which Courtney laughed at. "He looked really good then."

Courtney brushed a hand through her hair and let out a happy sigh. "You really do like him, it's adorable. I think you should go for it, honestly." It was then that Shayne's panic began to set in.

"Uh... no. I don't want to ruin anything and I wouldn't know what to do." Courtney rolled her eyes.

"Um, you totally would. Just talk to him like you talk to him normally, but tell him all those things you told me. I know he would appreciate it if you did. You can't just hold it in and wait for something to happen."

"But I don't want-" Shayne was interrupted by the dorm room's door opening, revealing Damien, who looked exhausted. He was wearing his glasses and one of their school sweatshirts that was probably Shayne's, but neither of them really cared at this point. All of their laundry ended up mixed together anyway. 

"Hey Shayne, I think I'm ready to drop out- oh, hey Court!" Damien's eyes lit up at the sight of his friend, and he leaned down to giver her a quick hug before collapsing on the couch next to Shayne. "What're you doin' here?" His head leaned to the side as he looked at Courtney, almost touching Shayne's shoulder. Shayne could feel a buzzing on his skin, but tried to ignore it and just act like a normal person.

"Well, Shayne was helping me out with a new song for open mic, but we ended up talking for the past while." She shot a quick look to Shayne that Damien didn't seem to notice.

"Ohhh, so that's why the guitar was on the floor. Cool. What song are you guys doing?" He was smiling, even with as tired as he looked. His beard was starting to grow in more, but he looked good with the stubble. Shayne wouldn't mind if he didn't shave it all just yet. He pushed away the question in his head of what it would feel like to kiss Damien with the stubble and just tried to pretend he was listening to Courtney and Damien discuss David Bowie.

After a few minute of chatting, Courtney stood up and announced that she needed to go back to her dorm and do some homework. They said their farewells, leaving Damien and Shayne just laying on the couch next to each other, silent.

"Do you wanna play a quick round of smash? I'm probably gonna nap but I could go for a game or two." Damien asked, looking at Shayne.

"But you always beat me!" Shayne pouted dramatically, and Damien chuckled.

"Yeah, that's the idea, man." Damien leaned over the armrest and pulled the Switch off the shelf next to the couch, setting it up on the small box that served as their coffee table.

\--------------

Damien sat in the corner of the campus bookstore/coffee shop in a large, comfortable chair by a massive window overlooking the sidewalk. Every so often he would glace at the passersby and make up little stories with them in his mind. It was something nice to pass the time while procrastinating his essay. He sipped his coffee and stared at the skeletal notes written out in his notebook and decided it wasn't worth it to try and be productive right now. He just sat in his chair and watched the people stroll by.

"Hey Damien!" He heard a familiar voice coo, and none other than Courtney Miller stood before him. He greeted her with a smile as she placed the books she was carrying down on the table beside his coffee mug.

"Hey Court, how're you doing?" Courtney slid into the identical chair across from him and blew a strand of hair out of her face.

"I'm good, just picking up some books my Music Theory teacher recommended. How are you?" 

"I'm good, I'm good, the usual stuff." He paused for a moment, considering his next words. "But... there is this one thing that I maybe wanted to mention. But it's sort of personal, y'know? So..."

"Oh yeah, totally. It's all good." Courtney jumped in, leaning over the small table so Damien didn't have to speak so loud.

"Well, last week I went out with this guy and I thought it was a date, y'know? So we were talking and just hanging out and I tried to put my hand on his leg and he totally flipped, because apparently he didn't think it was a date." Courtney offered an expression of sympathy.

"Oh Dames, that sucks. I'm sorry." Damien winced.

"Yeah, it did. And he called me the f-word and people around us noticed and they looked at me weird as I left. It just... it really sucked." Courtney stuck out her bottom lip and touched Damien's hand for comfort.

"I'm so sorry Damien." She said again. And Damien appreciated it, but he wished that people could say other things sometimes. He wasn't mad at Courtney at all, but the whole situation sucked completely and he hadn't talked about it since it happened. He hadn't even told Shayne, because he never really came out to Shayne in the first place. He felt bad about holding something that was so important about himself in from somebody he considered to be his best friend, but he wasn't sure if it would make things weird. And it could also open up opportunities for something more, but Damien didn't want to get his hopes up for that.

"Well, fuck that guy. He sucks. You don't need any of that in your life anyway. You deserve somebody who's amazing." Damien smiled at her words.

"Thanks Court. I mean, I have some people in mind, I guess." It was really only one person, but she didn't need to know that. Courtney's eyes widened and she smile mischievously. 

"Oh, who's little Dami got a crush on?" Damien smiled and shook his head.

"It's not a 'crush', per se, but... I _am_ interested in somebody." He was feeding the fire now. As nervous as he was to tell anybody about his romantic interests, especially when it came to that interest being his roommate and best friend, it felt good to get this secret off his chest. There's a thrill in it, and although Damien wasn't an adrenaline junkie, sometimes you need a thrill to keep you going.

"Who is the lucky lad or lassie?" Courtney asked again, this time in a horrible Scottish accent. Damien sometimes didn't understand how she was a theater major.

"It's, uh..." Damien took a short breath, imagining the confidence he needed flowing into his nostrils as he spoke. "It's Shayne."

Courtney made a face that Damien couldn't entirely read. Was she appalled? Was she elated? He couldn't tell, but she wasn't good at hiding her reaction.

"That's nice." She said, still with that look on her face. Damien decided to ignore it and indulge in the freedom of spilling his guts to his friend.

"He's just so great, man. I don't know how he's single honestly. I mean, I'm glad he his but c'mon, - how can somebody look like that and not have people breaking down the door trying to be with them?" Courtney laughed at that, stealing Damien's coffee mug to take a sip. He didn't protest - she had done it dozens of times before, it didn't bother him at this point.

"And he's so funny. I love it when he laughs at his own jokes, because he just goes for it, y'know? No holding back for him. And he's so talented, even if he wouldn't admit it. He's learning guitar and Spanish and he's always reading - he would probably be here right now if he didn't have class." Courtney smiled at him.

"It's so cute seeing you talk about him like that. Would you ever consider, talking like that to him?" Damien laughed at that out loud, probably much louder than he should have.

"No way. He definitely doesn't like me that way and I don't want to freak him out. I'm also the most awkward person when it comes to dating, as seen by what I mentioned early." Courtney's eyebrows furrowed.

"That wasn't your fault. That guy was just a dick, and how would you know if Shayne didn't like you unless you shoot your shot? You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, you know." Damien just smiled at her and sighed wistfully.

"I know, but I'd rather dream and be happy than try and get hurt." He would be lying if there wasn't a small part of him that just wanted to burst into their room and proclaim his love for Shayne as loud as he could. But life isn't a rom-com, he has to be realistic about some things.

Courtney sighed, audibly frustrated with Damien's response, but smiled at him nonetheless. "Well, I can't force you to do anything you don't want to, but I hope you think about it. You don't have to expect the negative all the time." Damien chuckled at that. Expecting the worst was part of his personality.

\------------

Damien walked into the dorm room after class to see Shayne laying on the floor, still in his pajamas. He was staring up at the ceiling, completely motionless save for the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. He wasn't dead, which was good.

"Heyyy man, are you good?" Damien asked, setting his bag down next to the door and walking to stand over Shayne, who blinked and looked up at him blankly.

"I feel like shit." He deadpanned, which activated some primal instinct in Damien to take care of him. He sat down next to his friend and looked around the room. Shayne's bed was messy, with his laptop and what looked like dozens of pieces of loose leaf notebook paper strewn across it. Damien could guess at what Shayne was feeling, but it still didn't hurt to ask.

"Why do you feel like shit, my man?" He asked, prompting Shayne to throw his hands in the air and guffaw. 

"Let's see, where do I start? I have no idea what I'm doing with my life, I feel like a failure, and I can't even write a god damn research paper that _I_ got to pick the topic of! I feel like a dumb-ass." He covered his face with his arms, and Damien tried not to stare at the absolute _guns_ his friend had.

"Well I can't really help you figure out what you're doing with your life because I'm not you, but I can tell you to get out of the clothes you've been wearing for the past three days and take a shower." Shayne sighed from under his arms, but leaned up into a sitting position, letting his arms fall to his sides.

"I guess a shower couldn't hurt." He muttered, and reached across the floor to where a towel was laying under his bed. Damien winced at the fact that the towel was probably covered in dust, but at least Shayne was getting up and taking care of himself. 

Shayne had walked out of the room when Damien received a text from Courtney:

_hey, I found this guy you might like ;) would you want to try a blind date?_

Damien chuckled to himself and typed a polite refusal, but didn't hit send just yet. He looked at the messy bed across from him and felt a pang in his chest. He knew realistically that there was such a small chance of Shayne liking him back that holding out hope for so long would only hurt him in the future. Why not take a chance?

He deleted his initial message and typed: _sure, why not? but make sure to tell him that it'll be the worst date he's ever been on :)_

_Sent._

His phone vibrated again barely a second later, a message from Courtney with a lot of explanation points and reassurance that everything would be fine. He hoped it would be, because that messy bed was driving him insane, and not just because of the clutter.

\----------

Shayne absolutely refused when Courtney suggested that he go on a blind date. He wasn't really in the state to be meeting anybody new, and if it went badly everything would just hurt more than it already did. But by some miracle, Courtney convinced him that it wouldn't be awful. He didn't know how she did it exactly, but he swore there was some secret talent she had for making people consider their options. It might have just been logic, but Shayne chose to believe it was magic of some kind.

She had said that the guy wanted to meet at the campus bookstore and cafe, which also calmed Shayne's nerves a bit. He loved the bookstore; it was so cozy and quiet. Shayne felt like he could actually think in there, instead of just having a minor mental breakdown on the floor of his dorm like he had done a few days ago. At least Damien was there to help him get his shit together. 

It was a Saturday afternoon that they were scheduled to meet. Damien had a class that overlapped with when Shayne would leave to walk down, since it took about fifteen minutes from their dorm. At least he wouldn't have to explain to his roommate where he was going, because that certainly would've been an awkward conversation.

Shayne got dressed in semi-nice clothes for the first time in what felt like months. He messed with his hair for almost ten minutes in the mirror before just giving up and letting it do whatever it wanted. The hair had won this battle. The walk to the bookstore was pleasant, the trees had started to grow buds in the warmth of spring, which made Shayne really feel like the seasons were shifting. He always liked spring the most, because of the growth in everything and wonderful temperatures.

Courtney had told him that the guy would be sitting by the window near the corner of the bookstore. It was a quiet place that was secluded from the common area that a lot of people hung out in normally, so Shayne was happy about that too. When he walked in he made his way over to the corner and saw the somebody already sitting in the chair, facing away from him. As Shayne approached, he noticed something familiar about the person. A hopeful thought crossed his mind, but it couldn't be, Courtney wouldn't...

"Damien?" Shayne asked, and to both his shock and delight his friend turned to him, just as shocked it seemed. He was wearing a nice jacket and his glasses, and he looked really good, if Shayne was being honest.

"Shayne? What - What are you doing here?" Damien looked frightened and began looking around, panicked.

"What are _you_ doing here? Did Courtney...?" Shayne asked, but as soon as the words left his mouth he began to connect the dots. He noticed Damien's eyes widened as the realization struck him as well.

"Wow, Courtney really set us up, didn't she?" Damien asked, laughing nervously. Shayne mimicked his laugh, and awkwardly put his hands in his pockets. Damien noticed the movement and gestured to the chair across from him. "Feel free to sit down, I just... I guess I'm a little in shock. Sorry." He offered a smile as Shayne took his seat.

"So..." Shayne began, noticing the two cups of coffee set in front of Damien, along with a few sugar packets and a plastic cup of cream. He smiled slightly. Damien had got his date a coffee in advance, how cute.

"Do you have any idea why Courtney set us up like this?" He asked, and Damien just shook his head and smiled.

"I think I might have an idea," Damien began. "It may have something to do with the fact that I told her my last date was completely awful and that I had an interest in you."

Shayne struggled to comprehend all of that. When had Damien been on a date? And did he just say that he was interested in him?

"What?" Was the most intelligent response that Shayne could muster. Damien's cheeks began to color as he continued talking.

"Yeah... I sort of told her that I had been into you for a while. So I guess I should probably stop saying what I told her and just tell you. Shayne: I like you a lot. You're an awesome guy and you're so great to be around and honestly you're one of the most attractive people I've seen in my entire life. I would really like to go on an actual date with you instead of just being forced to confront each other about our feelings, which I will be talking with Courtney about later."

Shayne genuinely couldn't believe it. He had trouble coming up with something to say, so he just stared at Damien with his mouth agape. Like an idiot. If he forced himself to say something, anything at all, then maybe he could tell Damien how he felt.

"I-I... I would like that. I would like that a lot, Damien." Damien seemed to retreat into his shell after he confessed his interest in Shayne, anticipating the worst, but when Shayne said that, he looked more surprised than reserved.

"Really? You... you really want to go on a date?" Damien was smiling, but Shayne could tell that his eyes were shining with the beginnings of tears. He understood how painful it must have been to tell Shayne how he felt, and he honestly felt like he could cry too.

"Yeah, I do. I would really like that." Shayne offered him a smile that Damien returned. They were both blushing and full with a mix of emotions that just led to them saying nothing at all for a while, until Damien broke the silence.

"So... we should probably drink these coffees before they get cold." Shayne chuckled.

"Yeah, we should."

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! this was something I had a lot of fun writing so I hope that it wasn't completely awful. I'd love to hear feedback for this. and don't worry, I will definitely be continuing this with smosh writing week's 'college AU' prompt :)


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